Category: Absurdism

In today's world, there's a significant push towards relentless positivity. We're often encouraged to think positively, maintain a cheerful demeanor, and dismiss negative emotions. While this sounds appealing, it's a simplistic approach that can sometimes be more harmful than helpful.

Superficial Solutions

Motivational and positive thinking frameworks often skim the surface. They encourage us to plaster on a smile and think good thoughts, but they fail to address the deeper, underlying causes of our emotional and psychological struggles. This approach can be likened to putting a band-aid on a deep wound – it doesn't heal the underlying injury.

Ignoring Reality

These frameworks can create unrealistic expectations. They suggest that by simply thinking positively, we can achieve anything we set our minds to. However, life is more complex. When our high expectations aren't met, we can end up feeling even more defeated and inadequate.

Neglecting Emotional Processing

Encouraging constant positivity often leads to the suppression of negative emotions. But emotions, both positive and negative, are a natural part of the human experience. Ignoring or dismissing our negative feelings can prevent us from fully processing and learning from them, which is crucial for emotional growth and resilience.

Lack of Personalization

A one-size-fits-all approach to positivity doesn't account for the unique experiences and challenges each person faces. It's not always feasible or effective to apply the same strategy to everyone, as individual circumstances vary greatly.

Supporting a Deeper Approach

In contrast, my approach delves deeper. By integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), trauma therapy, polyvagal theory, and absurdism, we address the root causes of distress. This method promotes psychological flexibility, helping individuals accept their thoughts and emotions without judgment and commit to actions that align with their values.

ACT and mindfulness practices encourage us to stay present and fully engage with our experiences, rather than avoiding or suppressing them. Understanding the role of our nervous system through polyvagal theory can help us better regulate our responses to stress and trauma. Absurdism reminds us that while life is unpredictable and chaotic, we can find meaning and humor in the journey.

This comprehensive, personalized approach not only helps manage stress and emotional challenges but also fosters true resilience and fulfillment. If you're seeking more than superficial solutions and are ready for meaningful change, let's connect. Together, we can navigate the complexities of life and find a path to genuine well-being.

"Life isn't easy; it's a chaotic mix of struggles and triumphs. Yet, in the midst of it all, there's undeniable beauty. Embrace the chaos, find the beauty."

Introduction:
Stress is a common part of life, but when it becomes ongoing and overwhelming, it can significantly impact our well-being. This blog will explore practical strategies to manage high levels of ongoing stress, drawing from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), trauma-informed approaches, polyvagal theory, and the philosophical lens of absurdism. These methods can help you build resilience and regain a sense of control over your life while embracing the inherent unpredictability and absurdity of existence.

Section 1: Understanding the Sources of Stress
Identify and acknowledge the various sources of stress in your life. This could include work pressures, financial concerns, relationship issues, or past traumatic experiences. Understanding where your stress comes from is the first step in managing it effectively.

Section 2: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT emphasizes accepting your thoughts and feelings rather than fighting them. This can be particularly helpful in managing stress. Here are some key ACT techniques:

• Mindful Awareness: Practice being present and fully engaged in the current moment. This helps in reducing the overwhelming nature of stress.
• Cognitive Defusion: Learn to see your thoughts as just thoughts, not facts. This can reduce the power of stressful thoughts.
• Values Clarification: Identify what truly matters to you and use these values to guide your actions, even in the face of stress.

Section 3: Trauma-Informed Approaches
For those with a history of trauma, it's crucial to understand how past experiences can influence current stress levels. Here are some trauma-informed strategies:

• Safety and Stabilization: Create a safe environment for yourself. This might involve setting boundaries, creating a calming space at home, or seeking support from trusted individuals.
• Grounding Techniques: Use grounding exercises to bring yourself back to the present moment when stress feels overwhelming. This could include deep breathing, focusing on your surroundings, or using sensory objects like a stress ball.

Section 4: Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal theory explains how our nervous system responds to stress. By understanding this, we can use techniques to calm our system:

• Deep Breathing: Slow, deep breaths can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation.
• Social Engagement: Connecting with others in a safe, supportive way can help regulate your nervous system.
• Movement and Exercise: Physical activity can help release built-up tension and improve your overall stress resilience.

Section 5: Embracing Absurdism
Absurdism, a philosophy popularized by Albert Camus, can offer a unique perspective on managing stress. It emphasizes finding meaning and joy despite the inherent meaninglessness of life. Here are some ways to incorporate absurdism into your stress management:

• Laugh at the Absurdity: Recognize and embrace the absurdity of life’s challenges. Sometimes, the best way to cope with stress is to find humor in the situations that seem overwhelming.
• Surrender Control: Understand that not everything can be controlled or fixed. Accepting the unpredictable nature of life can reduce the pressure to find perfect solutions to every problem.
• Live Fully: Absurdism encourages living passionately and fully in the face of life’s uncertainties. Focus on what brings you joy and fulfillment, regardless of external circumstances.

Section 6: Daily Practices for Resilience
Incorporate these practices into your daily routine to build resilience against ongoing stress:

• Mindfulness Meditation: Spend a few minutes each day practicing mindfulness meditation. This can help reduce stress and increase your ability to stay present. Remember even 10 seconds of bringing yourself back to the present can be beneficial in managing stress. This can be as simple and as powerful as wriggling your toes or focusing on your breathing. Maybe a couple of slower, deeper breaths. This can be done ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. Practise makes perfect!
• Journaling: Write down your thoughts and feelings regularly. This can be a helpful way to process stress and gain perspective.
• Healthy Lifestyle Choices: Prioritize sleep, nutrition, and regular physical activity. These basic self-care practices are essential for managing stress.

Conclusion:
Managing ongoing stress requires a multifaceted approach. By combining strategies from ACT, trauma-informed care, polyvagal theory, and absurdism, you can develop a toolkit to help you navigate stressful situations and build resilience. Remember, it's important to be patient with yourself and seek professional support if needed. Embrace the absurdity, live passionately, and find meaning in every moment.

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Please note - these cases are based on real life scenarios but have been altered to help maintain confidentially.

The client is an international student who has been in the USA for 3 months. They feel discriminated against and are struggling with loneliness and isolation, finding it easier to express their emotions in their native language. Despite having English-speaking friends, they want someone to talk to in their own language. The client is overwhelmed and finds it hard to study due to procrastination, exacerbated by a history of anxiety and depression. They have a strained relationship with their family, who have subjected them to physical punishment and verbal abuse over the years. This has led to a deep-seated belief that they are unlovable and need to achieve more to be loved, contributing to their ongoing anxiety.

How My Approach to Therapy Can Help This Client

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Addressing Negative Thoughts and Feelings:

• Present Moment Awareness: Help the client become more aware of their thoughts and feelings without being overwhelmed by them. Techniques such as mindful breathing and grounding exercises can anchor them in the present moment, reducing the impact of anxiety and depression.
• Cognitive Defusion: Teach the client to separate themselves from their thoughts, such as “I’m unlovable” or “I need to achieve more to be loved,” and view these thoughts as just words, not truths. We can learn to notice the thoughts and feelings rather than being consumed by them. "I notice I'm feeling anxious".

Absurdism

Finding Meaning and Resilience:

• Embracing the Absurd: Help the client understand that life’s inherent lack of meaning doesn’t diminish their experiences. By accepting the absurdity of their situation, they can focus on creating personal meaning and values. Good things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people.
• Empowerment through Choice: Encourage the client to choose their own path and actions despite the absurdity. This can help them regain a sense of control and purpose.

Trauma Therapy

Healing Past Wounds:

• Safe Space for Expression: Create a safe and supportive environment where the client can share their experiences of discrimination, loneliness, and past abuse without fear of judgment.
• Processing Trauma: Use techniques such as narrative therapy to help the client process and make sense of their traumatic experiences, including physical punishment and verbal abuse.
• Building Resilience: Develop coping strategies to help the client deal with the emotional impact of their past and build resilience against future stressors.

Polyvagal Theory

Regulating the Nervous System:

• Understanding the Body’s Response: Educate the client on how their nervous system responds to stress and trauma, helping them understand why they physically feel anxious or depressed.
• Self-Regulation Techniques: Teach the client techniques to regulate their nervous system, such as deep breathing exercises, grounding techniques, and safe social interactions. These can help them feel calmer and more in control.

Implementing the Approach

1. Initial Assessment and Rapport Building: Begin with a thorough assessment of the client's current emotional state, history, and immediate needs. Build rapport and create a safe, non-judgmental space.
2. Setting Goals: Collaboratively set therapeutic goals that are meaningful to the client in line with life values, focusing on reducing anxiety, improving study habits, and enhancing social connections.
3. Mindfulness and Present Moment Awareness: Introduce mindfulness exercises and present moment awareness practices to help the client manage overwhelming emotions and reduce procrastination. Like ACE - Acknowledge thoughts and feelings with curiosity. Connect with the body with actions like wriggling the toes, noticing the body sitting on the chair. Engage with the wider world through what can be seen and heard through the eyes and ears. Engage with what can be done to benefit life right here, right now.
4. Trauma Processing: Gradually introduce trauma therapy techniques, ensuring the client feels safe and supported while processing their past experiences.
5. Polyvagal Techniques: Incorporate self-regulation strategies to help the client manage their anxiety and depression, improving their overall emotional resilience.
6. Meaning and Values Exploration: Use absurdism and ACT principles to help the client find personal meaning and values, empowering them to live a more fulfilling life despite past and current challenges.

By integrating these therapeutic approaches, we can address the client's complex needs, helping them manage their anxiety, process trauma, and find meaning and purpose in their life.

In the face of life's chaos, remember that the universe owes us no explanations. Embrace the absurd, let go of the need for certainty, and find peace in the present moment. Your strength lies in your ability to create meaning amidst the unknown.

A lesson in Absurdism

Exploring Emma Carey's memoir "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" from the perspective of absurdism offers an intriguing way to understand her journey. Absurdism, a philosophy closely associated with Albert Camus, emphasizes the inherent conflict between humans' search for meaning and the indifferent, chaotic nature of the universe. Here's how Carey's experience and narrative might be viewed through this lens:

Absurdism and "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky"

The Absurd Event

• Skydiving Accident: Emma Carey's skydiving accident can be seen as an absurd event—a sudden, inexplicable occurrence that drastically changes her life. In the realm of absurdism, such events underscore the randomness and unpredictability of existence.

Confrontation with Absurdity

• Initial Shock and Trauma: Following the accident, Emma is thrust into a situation where the normalcy of her previous life is shattered. This mirrors the absurdist notion that life can be abruptly disrupted by events beyond our control, forcing individuals to confront the fragility and unpredictability of their existence.

Search for Meaning

• Journey of Recovery: In the aftermath of her accident, Emma embarks on a long and arduous journey of physical and emotional recovery. Absurdism suggests that in the face of a meaningless universe, individuals often seek to create their own meaning. Emma's rehabilitation and quest to rebuild her life reflect this existential search for purpose and significance.

Acceptance and Rebellion

• Acceptance of Reality: According to Camus, acknowledging the absurdity of life is crucial. Emma's acceptance of her new reality—paralysis and the challenges it brings—can be seen as her coming to terms with the absurd nature of her situation.
• Rebellion Against Despair: Camus advocates for a "rebellion" against the absurd by continuing to live fully and passionately despite life's inherent meaninglessness. Emma's determination to regain mobility, find joy, and pursue a fulfilling life embodies this rebellion. Her story is one of resilience and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds.

Creation of Personal Meaning

• Positive Outlook and Inspiration: Emma's journey is characterized by her positive outlook and efforts to inspire others. Absurdism posits that, while universal meaning is elusive, personal meaning can be created through individual actions and relationships. By sharing her story and inspiring others, Emma crafts her own narrative of meaning and purpose.

Key Themes from an Absurdist Perspective

1. Randomness and Unpredictability: The skydiving accident is a stark reminder of the random nature of life events, aligning with the absurdist view of an unpredictable universe.
2. Existential Struggle: Emma’s struggle to adapt and find purpose after the accident exemplifies the human condition as described by absurdism—striving for meaning in an indifferent world.
3. Resilience and Rebellion: Her refusal to succumb to despair and her efforts to live a meaningful life despite her injuries illustrate the absurdist rebellion against the inherent meaninglessness of life.
4. Personal Meaning: Emma's story highlights the creation of personal meaning through resilience, hope, and the impact she has on others, even in the face of absurd circumstances.

Conclusion

Viewed through the lens of absurdism, Emma Carey's memoir "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" is a powerful narrative of human resilience and the quest for meaning in an indifferent world. Her experience exemplifies the confrontation with absurdity, the struggle to find purpose, and the creation of personal significance despite life’s inherent chaos and unpredictability. Emma's story resonates with the absurdist philosophy by illustrating how individuals can find strength, hope, and meaning even in the most challenging and unexpected circumstances.

Introduction to managing thoughts

We can choose which thoughts benefit us and let go of worrying thoughts about the future.